Avatar: The Wild Card
by sonicking2004
Summary: Sokka has always felt the odd man out in Team Avatar, with no bending and all. When his friends are taken by a strange spirit attack that even they can't defend themselves against, Sokka feels powerless to help them, that is until an old and dear friend says he can can save them...with the power of the power of the wild card. Is this some kind of joke? Will raise rating if too low
1. Chapter 1: The Dark Fog

**The Dark Fog**

Sokka looked at the ground around him, beginning to lose hope that they'd ever find it. He was sure that it had been right around here that he'd lost it, but this area looked much different from the ground then it had from the air.

"Hey Sokka?" Toph called out some distance away from where she had, in her own unique way, helping him in his search, "I think I found it."

"What!? Where!?" Sokka cried as he ran up to her.

As usual, Toph didn't face the way she was pointing (no need, since she didn't "see" with her eyes) as she said, "About 20 paces that way."

Sokka ran in the direction Toph pointed, slipping but not quite falling a couple times on the damp ground of the forest floor. Then, when he spotted it, Sokka squealed in delight as he picked it up and said, "Space sword! I'm so glad to see you again!" After kissing it a number of times and stroking the flat of the blade affectionately with his cheek, he turned back towards Toph and hollered, "Thank you so much, Toph! You truly are the greatest earthbender ever!"

"Yeah, I know," Toph replied without a touch of modesty in her voice, though it appeared from this distance that she might have blushed. Shaking off the ridiculous notion and writing it off as a trick of the light, he called out to the others, "Aang, Katara! We found it!"

"That's great Sokka!" Katara said as she reached him ahead of Aang, then she gasped and said, "Wow, look at it! You lost it over two years ago, but it still looks practically brand new!"

Sokka noted that what Katara said was correct. A metal weapon left out in the open like this, exposed to the elements all this time, should have been heavily weathered by rust. However, other than some minor discoloration in the hilt and handle, his sword seemed utterly unharmed, its blade as keen as ever. Perhaps it was due to the fact that the blade was forged from that space rock. Regardless on how it happened to be, Sokka felt himself grateful for his luck, the hiss and click as he slid his sword back into its scabbard feeling right.

"Thanks for helping Sokka find his sword, Toph," Aang said to her, "Are you sure it was alright for you to be spending the day with us today? Weren't your students supposed to start helping out at the Earthen Fire Refinery today?"

"It's fine really. I got the lily livers settled in before I came here with you. Besides, Satoru is a good supervisor," Toph assured Aang, and now that he was closer he saw that Toph definitely blushed briefly that time, "He'll make sure that they know what to do." Toph then cleared her throat and pointed off to the side as she said, "Anyway, while we're here don't you think that we should go and find out what happened over there?"

"What do you mean, Toph?" Sokka asked as he looked where she was pointing, seeing only a little hill in that direction.

"Well, it feels there's a whole bunch of dead bodies on the other side of that hill," Toph told him simply, "And from the feel of the armor I'd guess that they were Fire Nation."

"What!?" Everyone else exclaimed in shock. At first he thought she was just trying to spook then, like the time they were telling each other scary stories around the campfire prior to the Day of Black Sun's invasion, but they all ran in the direction Toph had indicated. Once they reached the top of the hill, however, Katara gasped and hid her face in Aang's shoulder, and Sokka had to hold his hand over his mouth to keep his lunch from coming back on him.

The statement Toph had made did not due justice to the horror of this scene. The dead lying around here did indeed all appear to be Fire Nation soldiers. They were lying on the ground, draped over rocks, and even hanging from branches in the trees. Worse than the fact of an entire squad of freshly dead lying before them was how it appeared they died. There was no signs that a battle or struggle had occurred here, and while some of them did seem to have cuts and bruises on them there was little blood on the ground, the wounds seemed to have occurred after they died. Even more than that was the look of abject terror permanently etched on each man's face.

"What happened here?" Katara breathed in horror, "It was as if they all died of fright!"

"I'm more curious as to what a bunch of Fire Nation soldiers are doing here in the first place," Sokka said as he focused on them, "There's no way these guys died during the Hundred Year War, the bodies are too fresh."

Both Sokka and Katara looked at Aang, who looked troubled as he deliberated for a moment, then he said, "I don't know, either one, but maybe after we give these guys a decent burial we can go and see if Zuko has some answers."

* * *

><p>After Aang and Toph used their earthbending to quickly bury the dead, they hopped onto Appa and flew to the Fare Nation Palace. It only took a moment of talking for the guards to let Aang and his friends inside. Once in the throne room, Zuko sees the distress on his friends faces and stands from the throne, approaching them quickly as he asked, "Guys? What's wrong?"<p>

Aang quickly tells him how they found the numerous dead Fire Nations soldiers while searching for Sokka's sword. When Aang was finished, Zuko looked troubled but not overly surprised. "So, that's what happened to them," Zuko mused, "I was concerned when they had not reported in."

"Zuko?" Aang asked in surprise, "You know something about this?"

Zuko nodded as he answered, "I don't know much about what killed them, though, save for that it wasn't an isolated incident. Not sure if you know, Aang, but once the Earth King had agreed to allow the remaining Fire Nation Colonies to have their independence and recognize them as their own country, we struck an agreement for both Fire Nation troops and Earth Kingdom soldiers to work together, not only to keep the area safe until they have a stable government in place and a peace keeping force of their own established but also to help those areas hit hardest by the Fire Nation's incursions during the Hundred Year War."

"Recently, about a week ago, we've started receiving reports of a bunch of mysterious deaths, both in the former colonies as well as the surrounding viliages," Zuko continued, "Nobody can figure out how these people died, save that it always happened after a mysterious fog rolled through the area. Of course the fact that a number of those killed were of Fire Nation descent was something that we could not ignore."

"Everyone who died was from the Fire Nation?" Katara asked him.

"Not everyone," Zuko explained, "There were some who had no ties to the Fire Nation or the former colonies: a few people from the Earth Kingdom and a couple from the water tribe. Because there were a good number of them from the colonies, however, I'm afraid that the supporters of the old Harmony Restoration movement is rising again."

"Even in Yu Dao?" Aang asked, showing concern for the city's future. Sokka thought that was likely because he saw it as representative of his and Katara's oogified future together.

Zuko shook his head as he said, "Strangely enough, no. Out of all the towns and villages hit, Yu Dou was one of the few in that area that felt the least impact, with only one or two turning up dead. Then again, that may have been the intention. It feels as though someone or something may be intentionally stirring up hostilities between those living in the former colonies and the citizens seeking to return the Earth Kingdom to what it used to be, and by leaving Yu Dao practically untouched by this calamity…"

"Lord Zuko, I'm here with those reports you requested," Sokka heard a voice that he recognized very well, and his heart did a flip as he saw her enter with a scroll in her hand.

"Suki!" Sokka exclaimed as he rushed over to her.

"Sokka?" Suki said in surprise, holding her arms out to the side to prevent the scroll from being crushed in Sokka's enthusiastic embrace, "Aang? Guys, what are you all doing here?"

"They came to tell me about something they found while looking for Sokka's sword," Zuko answered her, "Apparently General Chang's troop is dead."

"What!?" Suki exclaimed in horrified disbelief, "No!"

"It was horrible," Katara said morosely, "The looks on those men's faces, it was like they were facing their worst nightmare before they died."

"I had just finished telling them that this was causing tensions to rise between the colonists and the Earth Kingdom citizens when you came in," Zuko explained.

"Well I'm afraid it only gets worse from there," Suki said in a grave tone, "According to my contact in Kyoshi Island, a growing belief among the populace is that the spirits are angry with the Fire Nation Colonists for the pain and destruction their nation caused during the Hundred Year War, and that the only way they'd be appeased is if they colonist were removed from Earth Kingdom soil, one way or another. I'm afraid that if these attacks don't stop soon, then Yu Dao may find itself on the front lines of a civil war."

"But we had just got things settled there!" Sokka complained, then he shook his head in confusion as he said, "Zuko, you said these guys we found were keeping the peace in the colonies? But we found their bodies while looking for my sword, which I lost clear on the other side of the Earth Kingdom."

"That's one of the strangest things about this phenomenon," Zuko told him, "Those who disappear during these foggy days will often be gone for several days, and when they're found dead it could be anywhere: sometimes in that same town, other times it could be as far as the other end of the continent, but always they appear as if they had been dropped from the sky."

Sokka thought about the condition in which they'd found the bodies of those men and realized Zuko's explanation made sense. Before he could ask more about it, a Fire Nation soldier burst into the throne room, taking a moment to catch his breath before anxiously saying, "Forgive me for intruding, Fire Lord, but there's a strange disturbance happening in the Palace City and heading this way."

"What kind of disturbance?" Zuko asked him tensely.

"An unusual dark fog is slowly rolling in over it, and anyone who's swallowed by the fog doesn't come back out again," the guard explained to him.

"What? Here!?" Suki exclaimed to Zuko, "But we're nowhere near the Earth Kingdom!"

Zuko deliberated for a moment, then he turned towards Aang and the others and said, "I'm going to see what I can do to stop this here and now. If you guys just wait in here you may be safe."

Zuko then ran after the guard, and Aang exchanged a glance with his friends before they hurried after him.

"Guys, I thought I asked you to…" Zuko started to say before Sokka interrupted, "No way, Zuko. We had together broken into and out of the most secure prison in the Fire Nation, ended the Hundred Year War together, established an area where different benders can live together, and reunited you with your mother. There's no way we're going to let you face this thing by yourself, no mater how many soldiers you have backing you up."

"Thanks," Zuko said as they exited the palace doors, then they hurried along the road to the doors of the outer wall. As they neared them, however, the doors opened inward and Zuko skidded to a halt before going through.

"Mai," Zuko said in a tone of stunned disbelief, and from what Sokka could see it appeared that Mai was just as surprised, as if she hadn't expected to come face to face with Zuko. Then a cross look fell over her face as she said, "Excuse me, Fire Lord, but I just remembered other business I have to attend to."

"Mai, wait!" Zuko cried out in a panic, "Look, I know you're angry with me, and you have every right to be, but you can't go back that way. Please just go inside the palace where it's safe, and when I get back I'll explain everything to you then."

"Is that an order, Fire Lord?" Mai asked tensely.

"What? No!" Zuko retorted desperately, "I'm sorry I said that to you. I was desperate and stupid and I panicked! I know I've developed a bad habit of keeping secrets during my exile and my hunt for the Avatar, but I promise I don't love them! I love you and I'll tell you everything, but please go inside the palace for now."

"I think I'd rather take my chances finding my way home in the fog," Mai retorted.

"No! You can't!" Zuko screamed desperately, "People die in there!"

Mai eyed him suspiciously as she asked, "What are you talking about?"

One of the guards who was on the outside of the gate asked, "Fire Lord, shall we escort the young lady inside?"

Sokka would have told the guards yes at that point, but Zuko apparently decided he was going to continue walking this tightrope as he shook his head at them and said to Mai, "Look, Mai, I know that I'm screwed up. I spent a good portion of my life screwed up, telling myself that there was nothing wrong with me. Since the day I became Fire Lord I've been trying my best to make myself a better leader and a better man, and though I may have come far I know I still have a long way to go. I have a good reason for the things I've done, and I'll tell you everything once I've dealt with this out here. If you still want to leave me afterwards I won't stop you. But for now, please, I'm begging you to just go inside where it's safe."

"Uh, Zuko?" Sokka called out nervously as he pulled his sword out of its scabbard, "I think it may be too late for that."

Zuko turned around and his eyes widened as he saw the wall of fog swallow the watchtowers visible outside the gate. The guards standing outside all shot their firebending at it, but their attacks proved ineffective and they screamed as the fog rolled over them. Zuko, Katara and Toph tried to use their bending to impeding the fog's progress, but to no avail. Even Aang tried, going into the Avatar State to create a shield of air around them, and though the fog rolled around the bubble for a moment, it soon managed to seep through and swallowed him too. Finally, Sokka turned to Suki behind him and reached out his hand, hoping they might be able to make a mad dash for the palace behind them, but before he could grab her hand the fog rolled over him too and everything went dark.

* * *

><p>When Sokka could see again, he found himself standing in the middle of what appeared to be the Capitol City. The colors here appeared to be wrong, however, like the light that illuminated this place was shining through a tinted paper screen. How he managed to get here when he was last heading back towards the palace Sokka had no clue of either, as he didn't see anyone else around.<p>

"Aang? Katara?" Sokka called out anxiously, "Suki? Where are you guys?" Sokka didn't hear any response, though by straining his ears he did manage to hear the sounds of people screaming in fear and pain, though thankfully none of the voices belonged to any of his friends.

Finding his way back to the gates leading to the palace, Sokka tried to head back in to see if Aang and the others were still inside. Before he could enter, however, a barrier of thorny vines sprung up to block his path. He tried hacking through with his sword, but each time he managed to get through a section they just grew back thicker and thornier than before.

Sokka thought that he might have better success if he burned them down instead, so he started to head back to see if there was anyone here or at least if he could find any spark rocks. Before he could get more than a couple of steps away, however, Sokka saw the guard who'd offered to escort Mai into the palace back into view from the next cross street. "Hey you!" Sokka called out to him, "Do you think you could?"

"No, stop!" The guard cried out in terror, his wide eyes still fixed the way he'd came from as he continued to back away as if he hadn't heard Sokka, "Stay away!" The guard shot a couple of fire bending blasts that way, but before the guard could get any further in his retreat Sokka saw a strange floating striped ball thingy with red lips overtake him.

Sokka watched in horror as the ball head swallowed the guard whole, then he tensed up as the strange creature slowly turned his direction. "Nice floating ball-lip….thingy!" Sokka called out soothingly, though he wasn't able to keep the fear out of his voice. When the creature uttered a strange scream and charged at him, Sokka closed his eyes tightly bracing himself even as he swung his sword for all it was worth.

When he didn't feel himself being eaten, however, Sokka chanced a peek and saw that the creature was cut in half. It wasn't his sword that did the mortal damage, however, but rather the strange bladed weapon of what must have been a spirit. Not quite as large as General Old Iron, this spirit warrior was only twice as big as Sokka, and though he was somewhat human in appearance this spirit was dressed in a strange garb, his face entirely obscured by a metal winged helmet.

When this spirit didn't seem hostile towards him, Sokka found his voice and asked, "Who are you?"

"You are me," the strange warrior answered him, "and I am you."

" 'You're me and I'm you'?" Sokka asked him in irritated confusion, "What kinda answer is that!?"

"An honest one," Sokka heard someone say from behind him. No, not "someone": though it had been many years since he last heard it, Sokka would know that voice anywhere, and his heart felt a twinge at the sound of it. When he turned around and saw her, Sokka's heart stopped entirely as she said, "Hello, Sokka. It's good to see you again."

Sokka's mind went blank. The only think he could come up with to say was, "Yue…"


	2. Chapter 2: Strange Man in a Strange Room

**Strange Man in a Strange Room**

As Sokka stared at Yue, floating surreally above him and looking just as she had right after she'd sacrificed her life and became the Moon Spirit, thus saving her people from the invasion of General Zhao's Fire Nation forces, the first thought that entered his mind was, _I'm dead. That strange fog got to me and now I'm dead._

Yue giggled as she floated down, saying as she did so, "No, Sokka, you're not dead yet, for which I'm glad."

As she landed, her outfit changed, as did the surrounding around them, making this moment even more surreal. Yue was now wearing a one-piece blue dress with several large buttons going down the length of her torso and a skirt that went down to her knees, in addition to a blue hairband holding her hair back and blue high heeled shoes. Coincidentally, her outfit matched the décor of the room Sokka now found himself in. It appeared very much like the room Sokka and his friends stayed in back when they were looking for Appa in Ba Sing Se with one notable exception: everything here was different shades of blue.

"Are you sure, Yue? Cause everything seems rather strange here," Sokka asked her, "If I'm not dead then I must be dreaming. Where am I anyway, and what happened to your clothes?"

"You're not dreaming either, Sokka," Yue told him patiently as she smiled, "This is the Velvet Room, your personal sanctuary in this realm where you can rest and regain your strength while you strengthen your Persona on your quest to rescue your friends."

"Strengthen my what now?" Sokka asked her.

"Your Persona," Yue explained to him, "You see, this realm you find yourself in is actually a realm of the mind, existing in between the ones of the physical world and the Spirit World, between dreams and reality. In here you'll encounter two different types of entities, Shadows and Personas. Shadows, like the creature that attacked you, are the innermost thoughts and feelings of people that are kept hidden deep inside, and because they were rejected they turned malevolent and dangerous, especially to the one that 'birthed' them. The warrior who help you earlier, is your persona. Personas are like shadows in that they are people's innermost thoughts, but because that person has acknowledged and accepted that those thoughts are part of them the persona will act to help and protect the person who gave it form."

"Oh, I see. Inner me is pretty awesome," Sokka said, then he got a thoughtful look as he asked, "Just why do you call this place the Velvet Room? I don't really see anything velvety about it."

"Ah, this one is certainly full of questions," Sokka heard a male voice say from behind him, "I like him already."

Sokka turned around and saw behind him an old man who was well dressed, even if his clothing style was quite unlike anything Sokka had ever seen before. The man's clothes wasn't what drew his attention, however. In fact, Sokka was so shocked by the man's physical appearance that he's jumped back and exclaimed, "Aahh! Nose!"

"Sokka!" Yue admonished him in a shocked tone, then she bowed to the old man and apologized, "I'm so sorry about my friend, sir."

The man chuckled as he said, "That's quite alright dear. I'm quite aware that my proboscis is one of my more prominent features."

"Of course your ears are giving it a run for its money," Sokka said with a smile, glad that this guy seemed to have a healthy sense humor.

Yue seemed too shocked this time even say anything, but the old man just laughed heartily as he said, "Miss Yue told me that you were funny, and I'm glad to see that she wasn't exaggerating. My name is Igor. I'm the proprietor of the Velvet Room and you, Sokka, are by far one of the most interesting guests we've ever welcomed in here."

"You have had other people in this crazy place?" Sokka asked him.

"Indeed," Igor told him, "Different individuals from different cultures and eras, and this place appeared different to each of them, and each of them had a destiny larger than they could have imagined."

As the man seated himself on a cushion and began to arrange cards face down on the table, Sokka scoffed, "You're not about to go and try to read my fortune with those things, are you?"

Igor chuckled as he said, "Of course not, Sokka. You know, I usually greet my guests in here alone, but when Miss Yue found out you were being drawn into this mess she begged me to let her help me. She was afraid that you would not readily take my advice, as you were, and I quote, 'not a very spiritual person'."

"Oh, I believe in spirits," Sokka countered, "Yue, of course, plus I was nearly squashed by General Old Iron. It's just fortune-telling I find to be a bunch of superstitious nonsense, as Aunt Wu proved correct a couple of years ago."

"I couldn't agree more," Igor told him, "To believe that the random placement of cards can predict the path you'll take is folly, as that choice can only be made by you and those around you."

"But that's not the purpose of these cards," Yue said as she came to stand beside Igor, "They don't show you the future so much as they reveal hidden truths about the past and how they relate to the present."

Sokka watched as the scattered cards were arranged until three were lined up in a row with a fourth underneath, the remaining cards put back into a stack, then Yue turned over the first in the top row, revealing a tower being struck by lightning and a pair of individuals falling from it.

"The lightning struck Tower," Igor explained, "A card of ill omen. A great cataclysm has befallen you, one which may result in suffering and despair befalling a good many others. As for the perpetrator…" Yue then turned over the middle card, Igor said, "The Devil card. The one responsible for what's happening is of a dark nature, pursuing their own agenda completely regardless of the fates of those who would also be affected." When Yue turned over the third card, Sokka could pretty much guess what this one represented, but Igor told him anyway, "The Lovers card. This means that you have those you care for, in one way or another, caught up in this as well, and that their fates are resting upon the choices you make."

As Yue prepared to turn over the fourth card on the bottom, Igor said, "This last card represents you yourself, the true nature of your inner self, your Persona." Despite having quietly decided that this was a neat trick, but a trick nonetheless, Sokka had half expected this last card to show an illustration of the spirit warrior he'd seen earlier. When it was revealed, however, Sokka had to look at it twice, then carefully read the inscription, before he exclaimed in disbelief, "Really? The Fool? I know that I often like to tell jokes, but you couldn't come up with something more macho for me?"

"The Fool Arcana doesn't mean that it can be taken lightly," Igor countered, "The Fool is the number zero, it is the void from which all things began."

Yue nodded in agreement as she added, "The Fool represents innocence, freedom, divine inspiration, madness, spontaneity, inexperience, chaos, and creativity. Of all the Arcana types a person's Persona can fit into, the Fool is the most flexible and adaptable of them all. It is very rare for someone's Persona to fit into this type, and that is the reason you have been brought into the Velvet Room. You, and you alone, have the abilities to find and help your friends and save the world before it's too late."

"Me?" Sokka asked Yue in confusion, "Have you forgotten during your time as a Spirit Yue? Besides Mai and Suki, I'm the only member of our group that has no bending. Anyway, Aang is the Avatar, great bridge between humans and spirits, charged with maintaining balance, etc."

"Ah, yes. The ability some of your people to harness and control one of the elements of the physical world," Igor commented in an interested tone, "I understand that you witnessed an encounter between one of the guards serving your friend Zuko and the shadows inhabiting this realm. Tell me, how well did his bending serve him?"

Sokka cringed as he recalled how the floating ball thing seemed to laugh off the guard's attack as it swallowed him whole. "Um…well…" Sokka hesitated.

"As great as your friends' bending abilities may be, Sokka, in this realm of the subconscious their ability to defend themselves against the attacks of the shadows will be limited, at best," Yue explained, "Of course, as dangerous as the other shadows may be to them, the greater threat to their safety is themselves."

"Come again?" Sokka asked for clarification.

"In this place which you and your friends find yourselves trapped in, the veil between the face you present to the world and your innermost self, your hidden shame and the dark thoughts you keep buried, becomes paper thin," Igor told him.

"Should your friends be able to accept that hidden part of themselves, then that self will become their Persona and will aid them," Yue added, "But if they, faced with their 'ugliness' they hide from the world or even are unaware of, are unable to accept it and reject it instead, then that self will turn into an out of control Shadow and kill them."

"What!? Then what are we doing just sitting around here yakking!?" Sokka exclaimed as he sprang up to his feet, "We've got to go find my friends and bring them back here now!"

"I'm afraid that my place is here, Sokka. I'll be unable to help you in your search," Igor said to Sokka, "And Yue's influence in that realm will be rather limited as well. She can guide you to the areas where your friends find themselves in, as well as provide you with the occasional words of advice to aid in the growth of your Persona, but that'll be the extent of the help she'll be able to give."

"Besides, the Velvet Room serves as a sanctuary for you and you alone, Sokka. It's highly unlikely your friends will be able to find the door to this place, much less enter it," Yue told him, "No, the only chance your friends have of surviving this is for you to find them before their Shadows go out of control, then defeat the source of the fog that's keeping you trapped here."

"So I've just gotta help my friends accept their dark sides, then they can help me kick the butt of the guy who pulled us in here and we can leave?" Sokka asked smiling, then he pounded his fist into his hand as he said, "Okay then, let's do this! This bad guy is going to regret the day he messed with Team Avatar!"

Yue nodded as she said, "Just remember, Sokka. Although your friends may be able to aid you if they find their Personas, most people's personalities are rather rigid and set in stone, not as ready to change. This makes your friends' Personas also have a limited growth, but you, Sokka, have always demonstrated a greater amount of flexibility than they, which is why you got the Wild Card. So while Aang may be the Avatar of the Spirit and Human Worlds, you are effectively the Avatar in this world."

Sokka didn't exactly understand how he could possibly be more powerful than Aang, but he felt that enough time was wasted, so he simply nodded.

"Thank you, Yue. You have indeed proved most helpful with Sokka today," Igor told her, "so helpful, in fact, that I may need to create myself an assistant to aid me in the future. I'll need to think on how best to do that, however."

Before he went to follow Yue, who was waiting for him beside the door to this place, Sokka asked, "One last thing, sir. Do you know who the bad guy is that trapped us here?"

"That, my friend, is for you to discover yourself," Igor replied with a sly smile, "Your ability to leave this place will depend on your ability to do so. I can, however, offer you this warning to bring to your friend Aang, as this place may even be more dangerous to him than the others."

"How so?" Sokka asked him, both anxious and confused.

"People in this place find themselves closer to their inner selves than they do in the physical world, much like how Aang gets whenever he enters the Avatar state," Igor explained to him, "That makes him extremely vulnerable, and should he die here then that's it: he won't be reborn and the cycle will be broken. The Avatar will simply cease to exist. Well, farewell and good luck, Sokka."


	3. Chapter 3: Frozen Heart

**Frozen Heart**

As Sokka's eyes adjusted to the difference between the dim lighting of the Velvet Room and the blinding brightness in the other side of the door, the first thing that hit him was how cold it was. That struck him as strange, as he didn't recall it ever being cold in the Fire Nation, except perhaps at night, and since it was light out that ruled that out. Then, when he could see normally, Sokka's jaw dropped at what he saw. After rubbing his eyes to make sure he wasn't just seeing things, Sokka turned to Yue, who'd exited the door behind him before it vanished, and asked her, "Yue, why are we at the North Pole? My friends and I were at the Fire Nation when we got caught in that strange fog."

"This isn't the North Pole," Yue explained, and her tone suggested she was feeling homesick, "any more than the place you saw that guard attacked was the Fire Nation's Capitol City. This is just another area in the Shadow World."

"I don't understand," Sokka confessed.

"The Shadow World is a realm of the subconscious," Yue told him, "Since the active subconscious of people is so strong, anyone who finds themselves pulled in here against their will will find themselves in a place familiar to them, usually somewhere they have a strong connection to."

"But that doesn't make sense," Sokka said, "I don't exactly have a whole lot of fond memories of the Fire Nation, and especially not of the Capitol City, and the only tie I have to it is Zuko."

"It could be that you simply aren't a nostalgic person and are very grounded in reality, so your subconscious structured your area to match where you remembered being last," Yue suggested, "It's far more likely though that you simply were pulled into the area the guard's mind created."

"So you're saying this area was created by the mind of one of those caught in this fog?" Sokka asked, "But whose?"

"If I had found you here, I would have thought yours," Yue said, "But since I'm sure that none of the others had really been here, much less had a connection to this place, I would say either Aang or Katara, most likely Katara. We should hurry up and find her."

Sokka nodded in agreement, then he started following her. After they walked together in silence for a while, Sokka cleared his throat and said, "Uh, Yue? I never really got a chance to say this before, but I'm sorry."

"Sorry?" Yue said in confusion as she turned back towards Sokka, "For what?"

"For failing you back during the Fire Nation's of the North Pole," Sokka told her, regret heavy on his voice, "Your father tasked me with protecting you, and because I couldn't even do that right you're gone now."

"You have nothing to apologize for, Sokka," Yue assured him, "It was my choice to give my life to restore that of the Moon Spirit. Besides, I'm not really gone, I merely became the new Moon Spirit."

"But that shouldn't have been necessary," Sokka countered, "I should have been able to stop General Zhao from killing Tui. If I had, you wouldn't have needed to sacrifice your life to stop the Fire Nation from conquering the North Pole."

"And then I would have been forced into a loveless political marriage," Yue reasoned back, "Honestly, there really wasn't anything anyone could have done to stop him, at least without knowing the future beforehand. Sure I miss my father and my friends, especially you Sokka, but at least now I'm free to be myself, and I'm able to help my people in ways I never could have before, so you really have nothing to feel guilty about."

As they continued their search, during which they had encountered neither friend nor foe, Sokka felt guilt tighten his chest as he confessed, "Uh, Yue? There's something I need to tell you about."

Yue chuckled as she said, "It's okay, Sokka. I already know about Suki."

"Wait, you do?" Sokka asked her in surprise, then he smacked his head in realization as he said, "Of course, duh! Moon Spirit, you probably saw us both back at Serpent's Pass."

"That's correct," Yue confirmed, "I was actually disappointed that you did not kiss her back then."

"You were?" Sokka said, feeling really confused now.

"Of course!" Yue said with another chuckle, though Sokka saw a tiny bit of sadness in the smile she gave him, "As much as I like you, you and I simply were never meant to be. In fact, I like you enough that I only want to see you happy, so you can't spend your life regretting the past or pining for what we had and lost."

"Oh, okay," Sokka replied, stunned.

"But don't go breaking that girl's heart by doing something stupid," Yue warned with a serious look on her face, "otherwise one day you'll find the tide dropping suddenly when you're sailing over a reef."

Sokka nodded his understanding, then he proceeded to follow her as they continued their search. They hadn't gone far, though, before Sokka heard behind him, "Sokka?"

Turning around, Sokka looked for the sound of the voice, calling out, "Katara? Where are you?"

Katara pokes her head out the door of one of the dwellings they had just passed, looking nervous and uncertain as she asked, "Sokka? Is that really you?"

"Yes, of course it's me," Sokka said as he hurried over to her, "Who else would it be?"

When he got over to her she placed her hands on his shoulders, as if making sure he was real, and Sokka could feel her trembling as she said, "It's been horrible, Sokka. I couldn't find anyone around here, the North Pole seems entirely abandoned, and every time I thought I found one of you guys it turned out to be some horrible monster! What happened here, Sokka, and how did we get to the North Pole anyway?"

"We didn't, not really," Sokka told her, "We're still in the fog. I can't recall the details, but basically this area came from your head."

"I don't understand," Katara said in a confused tone, "This place seems so real."

"Maybe Yue can explain it to you better than I can," Sokka said before turning around and calling out, "Yue! We found Katara!" But Yue wasn't behind him. Looking around in confusion he called out again, "Yue? Where'd you go?"

"Uh, Sokka? There was nobody there," Katara told him patiently, "It was probably just another monster."

"No! She was here!" Sokka insisted, "Yue? Where are you!?"

"Relax, Sokka," Katara told him, and it sounded like something had calmed her down a lot. Possibly the familiar sight of him acting like a spaz. "We need to find where the others went," Katara continued.

"That's right!" Sokka said as he dropped his fist into his palm, recalling what Yue and Igor told him before he'd left the Velvet Room, "Those monsters you've saw around here? They're made up of the bad thoughts in our heads that we don't listen to, but they can kill us all just the same."

"How do you know this?" Katara asked him.

"Just trust me on this," Sokka told her, "But Aang is in as much danger as the rest of us, if not more so. Your bending isn't as effective here, and if the Shadows manage to kill him then that's it: he won't be reborn, the Avatar's gone for good."

Katara gasped as she asked, "You mean the cycle will be broken?"

"Uh….yeah, what you said," Sokka replied.

"Oh no, Sweetie!" Katara breathed, her eyes widening in panic and her hand over her mouth. Then she took running in the direction of the palace as she cried out, "Aang!"

"Katara, I just finished saying this place is dangerous!" Sokka called after her, "Katara!?" When she didn't turn around or even slow, Sokka growled in concerned exasperation as he took off after her.

He had just caught sight of her upon entering the palace when numerous Shadows, some even stranger in appearance than what he'd seen in 'Capitol City', emerged from the walls behind her and blocked his path. He was just wondering how he was going to get past them when the card Yue had shown him in the Velvet Room, the Fool card, appeared spinning in the air in front of him. Acting on instinct, Sokka grabbed the card out of the air and cried out, "Persona!" As he did so, the card disappeared from his hand and the huge armored warrior appeared before him.

Wasting no time, Sokka's Persona began slashing through the Shadows in front of him as he himself ran behind him, yelling, "Get out of our way!" Sokka had lost track of how many shadows had fallen before his Persona's blade but, just when they were about through the horde, one orb-shaped Shadow managed to dodge under his Persona's attack and went straight for him. Convinced he was about to die, Sokka grabbed his sword and swung it at his attacker, surprised when it cut through and the shadow fell before vanishing. Sokka looked in shock back and forth between where the shadow was and his sword in his hands for a moment before exclaiming, "Just when I thought I couldn't love you any more, space sword….you're incredible!"

Sokka's Persona looked down at him, the Shadows before them cleared for the moment, and though the warrior's face was covered except for the eyes it seemed to Sokka that the look he was shooting at him was saying, "What am I, chopped liver?"

"Oh, you're pretty badass too, Izanagi," Sokka told him, though how he knew the Persona's name he couldn't say. When Izanagi jerked his head in the direction of the hall, Sokka nodded and said, "You're right, we need to get going."

* * *

><p>A few minutes and several skirmishes later, Sokka caught up to Katara in the Throne Room. Pausing a few moments to catch his breath, Sokka panted, "Katara! You can't….go running off…by yourself like that! You know how many….Shadows I had to fight through….to get here? How many times….I feared you had been killed?" When she didn't respond, or even turn around to acknowledge his presence, Sokka gently asked her in concern, "Katara? Are you okay?"<p>

Once again Katara didn't respond, but this time Sokka was able to pick up on the sound of quiet sobbing in the room, sobbing that wasn't coming from Katara. Edging his way around Katara, Sokka was shocked to see seated in front of her….Katara! This Katara had the same familiar bone structure and hair style as his Katara, but she looked only about 8 years old. Despite the difference in age, Sokka could tell that it was her, as he had seen her in just that same position the day they lost their mother.

Looking back in the face of his Katara, he saw it filled with shock and grief and he wondered if she was reliving the same memories as he, but before he could ask, little Katara bawled, "Why!? Why did you not save Mommy!? Why did you run away and let him hurt her? Why did you let him take Mommy away from us!?"

"I'm sorry, but I was young and scared," Katara pleaded with her younger self, "I ran as quick as I could to get Daddy, but I wasn't fast enough. I'm sorry."

"Liar!" young Katara yelled at her, standing and stamping her little feet, "You didn't want to save her, you wanted her gone!"

"No, that's not true!" older Katara countered, "I swear that's not true! I loved her!"

"Mommy, Daddy, Gran-gran, the villagers, and especially Sokka….they were all the same," young Katara continued. As she spoke, her face took on a cruel smile that eerily reminded Sokka of Hama, and she seemed to be visibly aging as well. "None of them could understand you, none of them had your gifts. You were simply a reminder of a painful past, of a gift taken from their tribe by the Fire Nation, as well as the reason they returned. Faced with that kind of scrutiny and judgment, your life would be much better if they were all gone," young Katara told her, now looking closer to 10 or 12.

"No, you're wrong!" Katara argued, "You're wrong!"

"You lied to Niyok and Nutha too," young Katara said, ignoring her outburst, now looking about 14 "You knew exactly what you were doing when you freed Aang from that iceberg, when you snuck with him onto that Fire Nation ship even though it was strictly forbidden. You saw him as your one-way ticket away from that place, were you were at best a freak, and into the world were there were others like you. That's why you came back here: you felt more at home here, surrounded by other waterbenders, then you ever were back at that pathetic little village."

"No, you're lying!" older Katara yelled at her, "Stop lying!"

"Then, when Hama taught you bloodbending, you acted like you were horrified but you know you really loved it," young Katara said, now looking around 15 or 16, "The power, the control, it was what you were looking for your entire life. After all, you were quick enough to use it on the Captain of the Southern Raiders, when you thought he might have been the one who'd killed your mom."

"No, stop it!" Katara yelled at her, "That's horrible, it's not true! Stop it!"

"Ad as for Sokka, that immature oaf actually thinks that he's a contributing member of 'Team Avatar'? Hah!" young Katara mocked, "That's a worse joke than any that he ever said himself, and that's saying something. 'Jabbering Hog-monkey' indeed, it's no wonder Yue died while under his care, and Suki's bound to end up the same way."

Older Katara turned around and grabbed Sokka's arms, apparently not even noticing Izanagi standing behind him as she looked pleadingly into Sokka's eyes and said, "Don't listen to her, Sokka. What she's saying isn't true! None of it is true!"

"You can lie to others, Katara, but not yourself. I would know," young Katara told her, and with a final age change she now resembled a dark reflection of Katara herself as she finished, "After all…I am you."

This last statement seemed to shock older Katara as she protested, "No, you're wrong! You're lying!"

"Katara," Sokka muttered sympathetically, then he recalled Yue and Igor's warning just as he hollered at her, "Katara, wait…!"

"I could never become a heartless monster like you!" Katara yelled at her other self. As soon as the words were past her lips, Katara collapsed in a heap on the ground, unconscious. Sokka hurried over to her, fearing the worst. When she appeared to still be alive, Sokka breathed a sigh of relief.

That relief was short lived, however, as the other Katara started to undergo radical changes: rowing radically in size, form changing and distorting, her body turning blue and becoming translucent like water or jelly. Once the changes were complete, the Shadow Katara looked more like a monstrous version of the Koizilla form Aang and La, the Ocean Spirit, took when General Zhao killed Tui.

As Sokka stood there in shock and confusion, Katara's Shadow waved its hand and a bunch of ice spiked flew at him. They would have impaled him had not Izanagi dashed in front of him, deflecting most of the spikes with his sword, taking only a couple of glancing blows on his arms and legs.

Even though it was Izanagi who got hit, Sokka felt the pain as though he was the one who got struck. As Izanagi prepared to fight back, Sokka called out, "No, Izanagi! Don't do it!"

While Izanagi looked back at him in confusion, Sokka heard the voice of Yue saying, "Sokka, you have to fight back!"

"Yue?" Sokka called out, looking for where she was at. Though he didn't see her this time, Sokka felt a million questions come to him, though he decided most of those can wait for a more appropriate moment. Instead, he said, "That thing is part of Katara, right? Won't she get hurt if we attack it, like I felt Izanagi's pain?"

"There may be some pain, yes," he heard Yue confirm.

As Sokka felt another icicle rain strike Izanagi, Sokka shook it off as he said, "I can't do it, then! I can't attack my own sister!"

"But if you don't get the Shadow to settle down, then it will kill Katara," Yue reasoned with him, "Isn't saving her life worth causing her a little pain?"

The thought of that thing killing Katara foremost on his mind, Sokka drew his sword and charged at the shadow, swinging his sword at it when he was close enough, though it seemed to pass harmlessly through the creature's leg. As Sokka looked at the damp blade of his sword in confusion, the Shadow smacked him with a backhand hard enough to stun him against the wall far behind him.

As he shook his head to clear it, he saw his Persona pressing its attack against the Shadow, apparently assuming it was given leave to do so now. Though Izanagi's sword passed through the shadow just as Sokka's had, it did seem to have more effect against it, if only marginally so. Then as Izanagi swung his sword again, Sokka saw sparks of lightning dance along its blade, and the Shadow screamed as if it did some real damage this time.

"My Persona can lightningbend?" Sokka said in confusion, then he called out, "All right! Izanagi, hit it again with lightning-slice, Raikouzan!"

Izanagi slashed the Shadow again with another lightning-enhanced blade attack, and the Shadow sagged to one knee as Sokka told him, "Now hit it with a lightning strike, Zio!"

The Shadow writhed under the lightning blast Izanagi shot at it, then it fell still and vanished as Sokka saw the scene waver around him, changing back into the Velvet Room, and he saw Igor and Yue standing before him as Yue beamed at him and said, "Good job, Sokka! You did it!"

Sokka nodded as he asked her, "Why did you disappear earlier, Yue? I'm sure that Katara would have liked to see you again, and it would have been easier to convince her of what I was saying and we could have avoided this whole ordeal."

"I was able to enter this realm to serve as your guide and yours alone," Yue explained, "Unless it becomes absolutely necessary, I won't appear to anyone else but you, but I will continue to watch over you and provide you guidance when you need it."

"That's kind of a bummer, but I guess you have to do what you must," Sokka acknowledged.

Yue nodded, then she said, "And now you need to go back, as Katara will be recovering soon."

Igor templed his fingers as he said, "I will be looking forward to seeing how you've grown soon, young Sokka."

* * *

><p>Sokka found himself standing over Katara as she began to stir again, and he reached his hand to help her up as he asked, "Katara, are you all right?"<p>

"I suppose so," Katara told him, holding her head as she asked, "What happened?"

"Well, you see…" Sokka started to tell her, but out of the corner of his eye he saw that Katara's Shadow was back, standing on her feet and looking like his Katara's mirror image again. He started to draw his sword, but Katara placed her hand on his arm to stop him, shaking her head no before she turned to face the Shadow and say, "You were right about my feeling out of place back at the South Pole. I loved my friends, my Gran-Gran, Dad and especially Mom, but I never felt I fit in there. And when we found Aang, all I could think of was leaving with him to find someone who could teach me how to use my waterbending properly. Then when I learned to bloodbend, I did like the power it gave me. I hated that I liked it, and I was afraid that I might end up like Hama if I gave in to it, but I cannot deny how it made me feel."

"And as for Sokka, I do find his immaturity rather annoying, as well as how he sometimes places greater import on some of the rather inconsequential things he's done," Katara added with a glance back at him, "but he is my brother, and I love him and trust him with my life. There's nobody else, except maybe Aang, that I'd rather have by my side." As she strode up to her shadow self, Katara told her, "I'm sorry if I made you feel small or insignificant by not acting on these feelings or making them known, but I promise to never act as if you do not exist ever again."

As Katara hugged her, Shadow Katara said, "Thank you." Then the Shadow changed again, becoming neither the young Katara or the huge monster, but rather another form altogether. This beautiful form was almost as tall as Izanagi though not quite, it was female in form though it was as free-flowing as the water it seemed to be made of, the only parts of it that seemed to hold their shapes at all were its hands: one hand looking soft and gentle, meant for healing and nurturing, and the other more like a claw, its razor sharp digits meant for attacking.

"Who….who are you now?" Katara asked in awe.

"She is your Persona," Sokka told his sister, "She's the hidden part of you that you accepted."

"My….Persona," Katara said as she reached up to touch her face. As she did so, the Persona disappeared, turning into an illustrated card with the caption of Priestess underneath, which she hugged to her chest as she said, "Thank you." Katara turned back towards Sokka as she said, "Sorry about running off earlier."

"That's okay, I understand," Sokka assured her, "I'm worried about the others as well."

"So there was someone behind what had happened to us?" Katara asked him.

"That's what Zuko thought," Sokka answered her, refraining from mentioning that Igor and Yue pretty much confirmed it. No need to open that particular bag again, since Yue could not show herself to Katara to confirm it.

"If so, than he or she is the worst evil that ever existed," Katara bit out with venom in her voice, "Even worse than Ozai." Then she smiled at Sokka and said, "Thanks again, Sokka. You're the best immature lout of a big brother a girl like me could hope for."

"Anytime," Sokka told her with a smile of her own. As they hugged, an archway behind the throne lit up with a blinding radiance and Katara asked, "You think that leads to where the others are?"

Sokka held out his hand and said, "Only one way to find out." Katara took his hand in hers and together they raced through the illuminated passage.


End file.
